This Golden Girl Was a WWII US Marine Sergeant
Comedian, actress, and singer Beatrice “Bea” Arthur (1922 – 2009) had a rich career in entertainment that spanned seven decades. She became famous for her signature sitcom roles as Maude Findley in All in the Family and its spinoff Maude, and as Dorothy Zbornak in The Golden Girls. Before that, however, Arthur had been a WWII US Marine. She attended a girls’ boarding school where she was the tallest girl in school, and was also voted “wittiest girl” by her classmates. Arthur became an avid participant in drama programs and theatrical productions. Entertaining her friends with imitations of Mae West, she dreamt of a career in show business, but did not think her parents would support her dreams.
Bea Arthur downplayed her WWII contributions, denied having served, and steered questioners away by pointing out that others had done far more. However, records show that in 1943, aged twenty one, she had enlisted in the US Marine Corps under her birth name, Bernice Frankel. She worked as a typist and truck driver, and moved up the ranks from private to staff sergeant before her honorable discharge in 1945. While serving in the Marines, she met and married her husband, Robert Arthur, whose last name she took. The marriage was short lived, but she kept the name and became Beatrice “Bea” Arthur. In hindsight, admirers of her no-nonsense characters would probably nod their heads at how apt it is that Dorothy Zbornak had been a Marine sergeant.
